San Antonio

I got back from a fly-out interview for an internship with USAA in San Antonio yesterday and thought I would share a picture of these beautiful boots first. I actually saw these as I gazed out the window of the speeding hotel shuttle. They are right in front of a big mall, I guess they attract people to the stores. Even if I hadn't seen the boots, the trip was pretty good. I spent most of Monday in airports and on airplanes, but they did take me and the group of about 20 other candidates out to dinner at the tower of the americas. Since the restaurant was of the revolving variety, I got a good view of the entire city. It is surprisingly green, I thought San Antonio was more of a desert landscape.


Tuesday I spent interviewing, asking questions, eating Texas barbecue, and walking around their ginormous headquarters. That building is seriously huge. I think it's about a mile long. They have their own zipcode if that helps put it in perspective. I was really impressed with pretty much everything I saw during my visit. I never once met an employee or even a resident of the city that wasn't pleasant and smiling. Everyone I talked to was very open so I asked a lot of questions and they happily answered them.


I had never heard of USAA before the career fair a couple months ago, so I am guessing that at least some of you have never heard of them either, unless you or someone in your family is in the military. USAA is an insurance and financial services provider exclusively for military servicemen and women and their families. They have an amazing reputation with their customers, so if you ask someone who is a member (member = customer) chances are you will hear very positive things. That kind of reputation impressed me, as well as their attitude and the overall culture of the company. I guess they have been recruiting at BYU-Idaho for a couple years now and they just started coming to the Provo campus this year.

As far as the purpose for my visit, I think the interview went very well. I got the impression that they were just bringing me down to make sure I would fit in the company from a behavior standpoint before they offered me the internship this summer, maybe that's a little optimistic, but hey. I guess I will see just how well it really went in a couple of weeks when I hear back from them.